European Lithium has expanded its footprint in Austria after completing the acquisition of three underexplored projects covering a total area of 114.6km2 in the Styria mining district.
The Bretstein-Lachtal, Klementkogel and Wildbachgraben projects were acquired for $250,000 in cash, 2 million shares and 2 million options following a satisfactory due diligence process, which returned assays of up to 3.98% lithium oxide from sampling of spodumene-bearing pegmatites within the projects.
Securing the projects, which are all located close to European Lithium’s (ASX:EUR) flagship Wolfsberg project, grants the potential to grow the company’s resources as it positions itself to become Europe’s first supplier of battery grade lithium hydroxide.
“We are pleased to complete the acquisition and add this highly prospective lithium ground to our portfolio of European projects,” chairman Tony Sage noted.
“The company intends to commence initial work focusing primarily on the Bretstein-Lachtal Project area.”
New Austrian projects
Bretstein-Lachtal consists of 191 licences covering 89.2km2 – making it the largest of the new projects – about 80km northwest of Wolfsberg.
The project is considered to be the most prospective of the three prospects with historical surface mapping from the early 2000s reporting lithium with grades of up to 2.93% Li2O and spodumene crystals as large as 10cm.
Wildbachgraben contains 32 licences over 14.9km2 to the immediate east of the proposed Wolfsberg mine, while Klemenkogel boasts 22 licences over 10.5km2 to the north of Wolfsberg.
Reconnaissance by vendor Richmond Minerals last summer found multiple pegmatites, confirming earlier findings, with 10cm wide crystal chips and pegmatites with sample grades from 0.51%-2.67% Li2O.
While little is known about existing outcrops and the spatial distribution of pegmatites at Wildbachgraben and Klementkogel, spodumene bearing pegmatites have been reported in past academic work stretching back to the 1980s.
Initial work program
European Lithium will kick off its activities on the new projects with stakeholder engagement and detailed geological and structural mapping of prospective areas to determine potential extent of pegmatite veins and lenses.
The company will also carry out additional trenching and sampling along with geophysical investigations with the goal of defining potential drill targets.
Looking to the future
European Lithium is progressing completion of a merger transaction between its wholly owned subsidiary European Lithium AT with Sizzle Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq:SZZL) into Critical Minerals Corp (CRML), which will list on the NASDAQ.
Once this is completed, it will have a majority interest in CRML through the issue of US$750m worth of CRML shares.
CRML will own Wolfsberg and a 20% interest in the Weinebene and Eastern Alps projects that are currently held by European Lithium.
The company also holds a 11.5% stake in Cyclone Metals (ASX:CLE) and a 7.5% stake in unlisted Tanbreez Mining Greenland A/S, which holds an exploitation permit for rare earths in Greenland.
Source: Stockhead
